Doorish
This article is about the species. For the polity, see: The Doorish Regions The Doorish are a quasi-mammalian sentient species which forms the vast majority of the population of the Doorish Regions. (Note on translations: The names in this article are those the Cartel chooses to use when speaking or writing in English. Some are direct translations from the Cartel language, others are neologisms bearing no particular relation to the original. The word, "Doorish" itself is what the Iase chose to call the Doorish in English, and consequently bears no relation whatever to any Doorish word.) History The Doorish are believed not to be native to their homeworld, Oldworld. Because of Oldworld's highly erosive environment, conclusive archaeological and paleological evidence is very difficult to come by, but the indications are that the Doorish have inhabited Oldworld for no more than ten to twelve thousand years. Modern linguistic research suggests that virtually all Doorish languages are related, and probably descend from a single language spoken between nine and eleven thousand years ago. While individual languages may have virtually nothing in common with each other, enough data exists when they are taken in the aggregate to make a number of educated guesses about that language's structure and basic lexicon. Further, modern science has largely confirmed the authenticity of a number of ancient machined metal tools built for Doorish hands, but whose metal content is radiologically inconsistent with having been produced on Oldworld. Finally, Oldworld has extremely limited biodiversity, and genetic analysis suggests the flora and fauna are originated on more than a dozen different planets. The most common scientific theory on the ultimate origins of the Doorish is that they are the descendants of a partially failed terraforming expedition. Debate rages about whether the Doorish terraformers were working on their own behalf, or whether they were a slave race who were abandoned by their masters when the terraforming project failed. The fact that the only artifacts from that time period are hand-tools tends to favor the latter interpretation, but the truth may never be known. It should here be noted that although the extraplanetary origin theory is strongly endorsed by scientists and the educated elite, only a slight majority of the population subscribes to it. Many Doorish hew to the creation stories of their religions, the most popular of which says that the two Gods created Oldworld to punish souls that displeased them in Heaven, and the Doorish to house those souls in their half-century of torment before returning to Heaven. Whatever the origin of the Doorish, life was—and to some degree remains—extremely hard on Oldworld. For the Doorish, who have roughly the same environmental preferences as humans, Oldworld is a wildly inappropriate environment. Temperatures in the temperate zones vary wildly, sometimes as much as twenty-five degrees Celsius in the space of a single day. As might be expected, the weather is extremely violent. Tornados, windstorms, lightning, and violent precipitation can occur without warning and may last for days or weeks. Compounding matters, much of Oldworld is tectonically unstable, and earthquakes and tsunamis are frequent. Despite Oldworld's having 60% ocean coverage, ships are unknown amongst the Doorish—it's suicide even to live within sight of the sea, let alone sail on it. The entire history of the Doorish is shaped by the perils of their world. The Doorish developed most of the technologies associated with industrialism over the course of millennia. One archaeological dig, for example, uncovered a power loom more than four thousand years old. The severe mortality rate and the frequency with which towns were destroyed reduced the usefulness of these techniques, however, and precluded the development of cities. Despite having all the technology needed to begin the exponential technological growth of industrialism, the Doorish remained poor, agricultural, and frequently dead. The technology that changed everything was not, as elsewhere, electricity or steam power, but concrete. Ultimately, it was tectonics that saved the Doorish from the weather; in 1957 a dynasty in the north of the inhabited continent discovered that an ideal concrete could be created from certain volcanic ashes, readily available almost everywhere. Within the space of a few years, the technology required to construct buildings that could withstand the worst weather Oldworld could provide had spread across the world. The very flat, dome-shaped buildings of reinforced concrete that first appeared in the 1960's can today be seen everywhere on even the most pleasant of Doorish worlds, and underlies their starship designs. With the spread of concrete buildings, cities began to emerge. With all the basics of industrial technology already in place, Doorish population and technology skyrocketed. Fruitful and quick to mature, the Doorish went from a population of a few tens of millions to over a billion in two generations. At some point in the mid twenty-first century—the precise date is unclear—the Doorish orbited their first satellite. Finally, in 2080, the first sleeper ship departed, bound for Goodworld. For more recent history, including the formation of the Hyperspace Cartel, see here: The Doorish Regions Biology The Doorish are roughly mammal-analogues. They are homeothermic, breathe oxygen, and bear live young. They do not, however, produce milk. The blood of pregnant Doorish is instead enriched, and newborns feed by biting a small cut and drinking it. The presence of additional nutrients in the blood of new mothers and pregnant Doorish tends to make them prone to infection in case of injury, so the pregnant are generally looked after with particular care. In appearance, the Doorish look like something between an ostrich and a bobcat; they are quadruped when walking, and have long, slender necks. Their fur, which grows everywhere but their faces, can have a number of different patterns and colors. The hair itself is hollow, and the follicles can contract, standing the hair up. The sudden standing of a Doorish' hair on end during a conversation can be disconcerting, (or comedic,) but generally only indicates that the Doorish feels overwarm. An adult Doorish weighs only around thirty-five kilograms, and when walking stands sixty or so centimeters at the shoulder. When conversing or using their hands, however, Doorish stand on their hind legs, and are generally about 150 centimeters tall. The Doorish lifespan is quite short, running to about sixty years on most planets, and about forty on Oldworld where the cancer rate is higher. Longevity technology is in its infancy amongst the Doorish, and Cartel concerns about stability make it unlikely that the common Doorish will have access to it in the foreseeable future. Sexual maturity comes at around six years, but most Doorish cultures consider them children until twelve. The most unusual feature of Doorish biology is their reproduction. Every Doorish is female. This is not to suggest that they practice parthenogenesis, of course, but rather that the males are non-sentient parasites. The typical Doorish litter is four to six, and around one third of live births are male. While the female infants, if they survive, will grow into Doorish, the tiny (~4 centimeter) males will never grow or feed independently. If not attached to a female, they will starve in a matter of weeks. When a male is placed on a female, it will secrete an adhesive and attach itself, then dissolve a patch of the female's skin and insert its head. Over time, the male's own skin will dissolve, and the male will secrete hormones promoting angiogenesis. Within a few days, the male will be sharing the female's blood supply. When a female ovulates, the eggs migrate into a small but temporary blood vessel in the uterine wall. The associated hormones will cause any males attached to release sperm directly into the blood stream. When fertilized eggs begin to divide, the blood vessel will burst, releasing them into the uterus. The risk of ectopic pregnancy in the bloodstream implied by this system is very real, and strokes caused by ectopic pregnancy are a leading cause of death. Despite being sessile and brainless, males are not entirely defenseless. Once attached to a female, the same angiogenesis hormone that provides males with nutrients also provides them with a defense; as time goes on, angiogenesis will continue, eventually resulting in the male being surrounded by a warren of extremely large blood vessels. Removing an established male is a task for for a skilled surgeon; before the advent of modern medicine it was simply impossible. The risk of serious bloodloss is also the chief reason that males are generally attached in armpits and grouns. Males can secrete toxins, and will do so if blood chemistry implies the addition of a new male. While the toxins from one male are not particularly dangerous, the toxins from two or three established males can be enough to kill a freshly attached male, who has not yet integrated itself sufficiently into the female's circulatory system to flush the toxins—which settle in and affect the gonads. The toxins from four males begin to pose a threat to the host female, making attempts to attach more than three relatively infrequent. The male will continue to break down after attachment, and within a few years, nothing will be left but a pair of gonads and a number of glands surrounded by blood vessels. Culture Category:Doorish